A Spare Second

I work on Thursdays, so Bridget is at Liz's house, and Nora is at school. Today Liz had some errands to run so she said she would drop Bridgey off to me. Wow! That's great. Instead of throwing Nora back into the car to get B, we had a half hour by ourselves.

Now usually that would mean more time to make dinner, or check emails, or study, or laundry, or more laundry, or cleaning a toilet or, or, or, or.....

But today I decided to not do any of those things. Instead we did airplane rides, plenty of throw downs, and a fierce game of hide and seek. It felt good to not do those *pressing* things and just enjoy this rare one-on-one time. Nora is super good at hide and seek. I could never find her.

Where IS she????!!!!

It was off the chain, these hiding places.

Hmm.....

A good ol' jump every now and again is A-okay with me

A Burke Vocab Lesson

We have lots of weird ways of saying things here in the Burke household. So you can keep up with our lingo- here is a lesson on Burke Speak:

(in no particular order- just how it comes to me brain)

TWINK-   Going tinkle. Do you have to go twink?

MINTENS- Green tea mints from Trader Joes. Can I have a minten???

TBO SHOW- A TV Show. Can I watch one TBO show?" asks Nora.

SHARKS- Cuticle cutters. Mommy, I have a hang skin, can you get the sharks?

PRINCESS- A pull-up. Nora, go put on your Princess.

COMFY COZIES- Pajamas. Time for comfy cozies!

PLUG- A pacifier. Where the F is a plug!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! says P-Chunk.

BIG BIG-  A hug.  Give me a big big. Go give her a big big.

10,000- Kisses. I am going to give you 10,000!

SPECIAL- Lip Gloss. "Mommy- can I have special?" asks Nora Burke

SNOW- Baby powder. Bridget usually says it the most When changing her diaper, "Snow?" asks Bridget, and then I sprinkle some on her belly.

PONY- Bridget's Toothpaste. "I want pony tooooooooo-" whines Nora.

AW JUNK- Oh crap (or other 4-letter words) Something spills on the floor- 'AW JUNK'

JUNK IN MY TRUCK- An extension of Aw Junk. Something really bad happened. Like Chocolate milk spilled! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO AW JUNK IN MY TRUNK!!!!!!!!!

NO BIGS- Just the Burke Family Motto. No Big deal. Spilled milk? It's really no bigs.

GOOD IN THE HOOD- Another fav phrase. Everything A-okay? Nora- are you good in the hood?

PANCAKE FOOTIES- Coined by my sister. Bridget's feet, because they are wide and flat. "Are you wearing your pancake footies today!?!?!?!

A SIMPLE PONE- Ponytail. I am going to give you a simple pone, Nora.

PANDA ROOM- Nora's preschool. Do I get to go to the Panda Room today????!!!!???

CYCLOPS- The act of putting your nose and eyes together. "Gimme a Cyclops," says Nora.

THROW DOWN- To throw your kid on the floor and tickle them. Do I need to give you a throw down?

ZUMBA UMBA BUMBA ZUMBA- Zumba. The way Nora says it. ALWAYS. Mom, are you going to Zumba Umba Bumba Zumba?

GUMMIES- Vitamins. Who wants to get two Gummies?

SPA TIME- Bath time. Spa Time for Nally and Bridge Boo.

NICKNAMES

NALLY- Nora's nickname only when referring to spa time. As in Nora Allison. See sentence above.

BEAN, BEAN- Nora's mainstream nickname, and what Bridget calls her. Where is Bean, Bean?

KK- Kristen, as in my sister. "I love you KK," says Nora.

DAS FUT- Uncle Tim. Of course. FUT is Future Uncle Tim (when they were engaged) changed to Fun Uncle Tim. Now, if you look up the German meaning, you will find something else. Please google and you shall see. I refuse to type the word on my blog. Where's Das Fut?????

REINA- Grandma, as is my mom. I want to call Reina.

P-CHUNK- Patrick's nickname. What up P-Chunk.

GIGI- G-RAM- My mom-mom. GiGi is Great-Grandma, G-Ram is Grandma. Yeah GiGI (G-Ram!) Woot!!!!

BRIDGEY- Bridget. Duh. AKA- what used to be Emerson. hahahah Oh Bridgey, we love you.

MICH- Kate. Are you talking to Mich?

MOLD- Molly. Molly lives, way, way far away.

MISS AMANDA- Amanda. But you have to always, always call her Miss Amanda. Where is Miss Amanda's house?

SISSY SUE- Both Meghan and Molly, my Sister-in-Laws. Hi Sissy Sue! How are you? You are cool. Cool for school.

And probably one of the originals in my life that started my weirdo nickname, phrasey, new word selection of saying stuff:

ICING PILLOW (ICE)- My lovie. The first love of my life. My pillow. Where is MY ICE!!!?!?!? (frantically trying to find it in my bed at age 31)

More may come to my brain, but here is a start!

<3

Cute Moments

The girls are getting cuter and cuter together. This morning Nora got yogurt out for Bridge and they had a picnic on the floor (Nora's words)

Then later they were playing cute together in Bridget's room.

Then Bean was tracing Bridget's foot with the magnidoodle.

Bridget is a biter and pincher (big surprise...) but that comes out during heated sharing disputes. I treasure these sweet times, and they are becoming very frequent- excitement.

These girls are awesome. I hope they will always be close.

18 days until...

BLACK FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(okay and one day until the election)

I have $240 in Target gift cards. I upgraded my coupon organization after seeing a guest speaker at Building Better Moms, the moms group at my church. Check out BOQ box of coupons, still organized my insert date (Q's as the coupon bloggers call them. she called hers BoB i like BOQ) but i could change the name, because i could. Because i can. Because i like changing names, including human names... Anyway moving on....

I can't WAIT for black friday. I am so jazzed I don't know what to do with all my energy.

Who's coming to Target at Midnight with me?!?!?!?!?!

PS- P and I STRONGLY disagree when we should put up our tree. Boo. Bad thing is he will probs win bc we broke down and got a fakey this year after the pine needles took over my life last holiday season. I need his help putting it together and rearranging the TV etc to make it all fit. We shall see- I think a paper, rock, scissors tournament is in our future.

I love you

My baby said "I love you" to me today! I have been asking her to repeat me, and she hasn't- until today!

So sweet.

Now next up is a time when she says it without me asking her.

But I still had to post that she said it.

Aw. Melt heart.

P.S. When can I put my Xmas tree and decor up without the haters hating?

For Reals Halloween

The actual holiday finally arrived. All holidays with kids are just so much fun. I decided I need far more plush characters in my life to celebrate the holiday. Hopefully I can hit up Hobby Lobby to really plush up my life.

So anyway- in the Panda room this week, Nora had her first Halloween parade and school party. It was the way adorablist.



Happy to see me. Hopefully it will always be that way when I am at school :)

Then we went to Liz's house for Halloween. We did crafts, ate pizza, hung out with amazing friends, and trick-or-treated. We tried to get a group shot of everyone and it was not happening. I could barely get The Princess and her Frog here. Nora is super into princesses so she was Tiana, and B was the frog.

I could not get a picture of them standing- it was a battle to get them to smile or even look. We were having a crabby afternoon.

So we did a family shot. Yes, I am wearing a wig. Yes, I think I will wear a wig every Halloween.

I love this pic because B is like. Whatever.

Emily and Bridget eating at the 'baby' table. So fun.

Cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeese. She says it now.

Liz's third child in the wagon. Actually her first- she loves her diet coke.

Though it came out blurry- I still had to post. Liz and her baby :P

B totally started to get into Trick-or-Treating this year.

And Nora of course loved her some candy.

The 'Nora's in the wagon.

Miss Amanda, Me and Liz. Visions of loveliness after a fun-filled night. What is that between my legs? Not sure, just not sure...

An Ode to Zumba

It's funny how people who do their regular things and jobs can end up meaning so much to other regular people who go about doing regular things, even when they don't know the impact they are making- and may never be told fully.

When I first moved to Kansas last year, I was suffering from the baby blues, plus I didn't know many people, I had no family here, I had a 3 week old and 2-year-old, Patrick was traveling a lot, we were trying to sell our house back in Chicago, I was overweight from the baby fat...should I continue, or do you get the picture I was not the happiest person on the block.

Well anyway- I found Zumba.

Molly had been zumbaing and told me I would love it. So I joined a gym here and went for the first time. Okay- the first time I went was disaster, and I didn't end up going (it went something like this: go to gym, have to pee so bad almost peed my pants, couldn't find the bathroom in the new locker room, finally did. couldn't find zumba room, finally did and they had started already) so I didn't go in because I thought everyone would look at me weird, but little did I know the instructor was new too! It was only like her second class.

But the next Saturday I went. I got there on time. And I was hooked.

Soon I made my way to the front, started majorly zumabing and improved my appearance and my mood.

And my instructor rocks. She is so sweet, so fun, and makes class amazing. And she means so much to me, and I told her it once when we were at lunch, but I don't know if she really, really knows how much she impacted me, and I am sure so many other people. For serious, because of her I pulled myself out of the baby blues, met great people, had so much fun in class, and I can't even express in words how much the class and Claudia mean to me.

She will be moving soonish (but hopefully not too soon) and I am in denial. Though the first class back was hard, I bounced back, and I truly think my mood is improved again after everything that just happened because of this class.

Plus on a side note- I completely and utterly believe in exercise. When you are tired- exercise. When you are sad- exercise. When you feel happy, gross, depressed, mad, silly, stressed-out- exercise. When you don't want to exercise- exercise. When you want to bake a whole funfetti cake and eat its contents in a 10 minute span- well, you get it.It will change your life.

That is all. 

Here is a photo of Claudia and another student. We were the only two that dressed up for Halloween- I don't normally wear tutus to class. :)

<3 love ya, C!